A New Mouse?
by Demitri
Summary: The main program writer, Mouse, for the Matrix rebels has died, and Morpheous wants a new computer genious. Will Cyane be the new freed one? Will she take the red or the blue pill? Chapter 6 up for 'A New Mouse?' ~*o0 Please Read & Review 0o*~
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1: 

For the past seven years of my life I've been having these reoccurring dreams. They're the same every night. I'm in a small off white room with a hidden surveillance camera in the corner watching my every move. I'm sitting in a metal chair, in front of a table, with an empty chair on the other side. There's a window. It looks like a mirror to me, but I know that someone is observing me from the other side. In my dream I am waiting for someone or something to walk through the door. But that's the weird part of my dream. I wake up before anyone comes in the room. In my dream I'm scared. I don't know why, but something bad is going to happen to me. I never stay asleep long enough to find out.

I wake up every morning and try to forget about it. And every day keeps getting weirder and weirder. When I was three, my mom left my dad for some rich oaf with a mansion and everything she had ever wanted, and I was left all alone with my dad, in his authentic New York apartment. My dad has two jobs, and is never home long enough for us to have an intelligent conversation. Man being fifteen sucks.

I walk out of my room and into the kitchen in the same dirty clothes that I had been wearing the day before, carrying my black backpack over my shoulder with the big hole in the bottom, where all of my pencils fall out. I slide into a chair, across from my father at the Formica table, so my he acknowledges my presence, with his nose buried in yesterday's paper and his coffee mug at hand. I give a meek "Morning." and he doesn't put the paper down just grumbles "Yeah." Back to me. "Well I guess I'm off to school again." I try to say cheerfully. This time he doesn't even realize I was talking to him, and just stares at the sports section. 

I stand up and walk out the door without grabbing my usual apple, and head down to the city bus stop, where I catch my ride to school. The rusty bench is still there waiting for me to sit on it while I await my chariot. I put on my headphones, and blast destructive music into my ears on volume ten. My head is down. I never make eye contact with anyone in the city. That's dangerous, some gangster might get offended by your look, and you'll end up in a dumpster, without your money or a cause. I don't need to watch the bus pull up for me to know it's there. I can just sense when it's coming. I walk on and find an empty seat in the back. I slouch down and put my hands in my pockets, and pull out lint, and sprinkle it to the floor like snow, watching it hit the ground without making a sound. And I hum a Christmas jingle.

The bus slowly drudges along to where my school is. I get off without saying a word, unnoticed, like a cobweb in the corner.

Outside of my school, Miller High, or as some like to call it, Killer High, there are little groups of people. Everyone is in a group of at least three. Even the nerds hang together. There are the populars, the loners. Well I guess there not loners anymore because all of the loners formed a group to become one big loner. There are the jocks, the jock's girlfriends, the bookworms, and the chess club. 

I am the only one in the whole school who isn't in a group. I guess I'm not very good at making friends. Who needs friends anyway? I don't. All I need is my CD player, and my computer. That's all. I glide past everyone with my head still down and my black hood from my sweatshirt pulled up. No one notices me except for the occasional person glancing at me in disgust causing a break in their precious gossip.

I walk into class before everyone else, and take a seat in the very back. I cross my arms and bury my head in my chest, waiting for today's boring math lesson. I've developed a gift of being half-asleep, and half-awake during class. If the teacher so dares as to call on me because she thought I wasn't paying attention, I could hit her back with the answer to her "complicated" word problem. 

Finally it's lunch in the cafeteria. A time for all of the groups to come together to show off there stuff, and claim the throne of "the best". I just sit in a corner, and wait for the bell to let me go to my next class. I've found that if I don't talk to anyone at all in one school day, time goes by much quicker, and I can just get home to my computer, and it's holy Internet. 

I open my backpack, and pull out the mashed sandwich that I had not eaten the day before, peanutbutter and banana. I sit there quietly, and munch on the stale bread, sticky peanutbutter, and overripened banana sandwich. No one is sitting at the same table I am. There's plenty of room, but people seem to be intimidated by me. I've never actually managed to speak to anyone yet, but yet they still run away from me, before they even know me. 

I become tense, a chill runs up my spine. Someone is watching me intently. They have been watching me all day. My gaze falls upon the open doorway of the cafeteria. There standing in it is a tall white man. He is in a black trench coat, and is wearing sunglasses. I look around the cafeteria, no one even realizes he's there. My eyes look back at him. He motions for me to come to him.

Should I? Should I trust anyone these days? Yet, somehow he doesn't seem dangerous. I shove my sandwich back in my bag and throw it over my shoulder, slide against the wall and walk up to him. He is maybe 6'5" a giant compared to my 5'0". "Follow me." He whispers, and cautiously walks around the giant cafeteria, to an alley behind the school.

He takes off his shades, and shakes my hand. His strong grip startles me. He introduces himself as Neo, and my eyes widen. "Neo? As in master hacker Neo?" I say fumbling for such simple words. He chuckles. "Yes Cyane, but right now that is not important. All that is important right now is your safety, and at this very moment you are in danger." "Cyane?" I repeat back to him. "H-How did you know my hacker name?" "It doesn't matter. I know why you don't make friends, and socialize. I know why you hide away from everyone in your room all night, sitting at your computer. I know who you are looking for, the man who can give you the answer to your question." I sighed. "What is the Matrix." "Yes, but there are others besides me who know who you are, and will find you, and hurt you. Watch your back, Cyane, they will find you." Neo put his sunglasses back on, and strode away, without another word. I was left there in awe. 

The school bell wrung in the distance and I looked at my watch, an instinct even though it had stopped the month before. I didn't need to know the exact time to figure out that I was late for my next class. But I didn't feel like sitting through another science lecture. I walked off in another direction, and headed for the nearest computer. Home.


	2. Chatper 2 for 'A New Mouse?'

Chapter 2:

I ran and ran, and saw the bus stop, but realized the next bus wasn't arriving for another half an hour. "No time to wait that long." I whispered to myself. I pushed past businessmen, women with their children, and poor people, almost knocking some over. I wanted to turn around and apologize, but I didn't have time. I kept running on, for blocks and blocks. My lungs screamed out in pain, flattening trying to get me to stop and catch my breath, but I paid no attention. My side began to hurt reminding me how out of shape I was, from not trying in PE, or using a fake doctor's note. I rounded another corner, almost falling over from running so fast. 

The fact that my domain was only three more blocks away was the only thing keeping me from falling down dead right then and there. I spotted my brown apartment building, which used to be white. I pushed through the heavy doors and spotted the stair well. "No way am I climbing seven flights of stairs after that work out." I panted. 

I heard the elevator ding, and I gulped. The rusty elevator was about as old as the building itself, and about as safe as jumping off of a cliff. The slow doors opened and I walked on. It shook, startling me. I pushed the "seven" button and waited while it dinged at every floor. I tapped my leg, and closed my eyes, half expecting it to fall to my doom at any moment, but it finally dinged for my floor. I had to push the "open door" button several times before the screechy doors actually opened with great deliberation. 

I walked down to my door, littered with Graffiti, 303. I stuck the key in the hole and pushed the door open with a thud. I tossed my backpack on the kitchen table, while I strode to my room. I wasn't afraid my dad would catch me he wasn't expected at home for at least another six hours. I jogged into my room panting, and shut the door behind me. 

My room is pitch black even in the daytime, because I have heavy black curtains blocking anything, light and peoples nosey view, from coming through my small window. I have a little dirty mattress on the floor. I have to be careful when I actually have the chance to sleep, because there is one spring at the bottom, which has popped up. I can easily be cut by the sharp metal edge. I don't really have to worry about that though, because I rarely sleep in my bed. In fact, I rarely sleep at all. I spend most of my weekday at school. Then, for all of the rest of the time, I'm in my room, at my desk, on my computer. 

I am a hacker. I hack into web-sites and government programs, trying to find information about The Matrix, and the man who can give me the answers, Morpheous. By looking at all of the files the downtown government agency keeps, I'm able to tell that Morpheous is a wanted man, he has been convicted of numerous murders of government officials. The strange thing about that is, no one has been able to catch him long enough for him to appear in a courtroom.

I don't believe that Morpheous is wanted only because of murder. I believe that he knows something the government is looking for, something that they can not find out for themselves. And I believe that it has something to do with The Matrix.

I boot up my computer, and close my eyes and smile at the familiar hum the hard drive makes as it gets warmed up for a night of searching. I put on my headphones so I can hear the audio components of my search without causing a ruckus for the neighbors. I open a file I have saved about Morpheous that I didn't get to finish reading the previous night. It had something to do with him being held in a government controlled building, but was rescued by two unknown people before the agency could get any information out of him. Practically the whole building was destroyed before the day was over.

I opened some more documents, so I could compare them with the ones I would find on the internet. Hour went by and I only found one tabloid article the government took out for the public's safety. It was kind of cheesy, so I didn't take any of it seriously. The only reason I bothered to look at it was because one of the hackers that I knew was named in it, Trinity. The article was about how she was caught in the action, and when the police came to arrest her she pulled this anti gravity shit on them, and whooped everyone's asses, killing a few with their own guns. Figures it was put in the tabloid.

After a while of searching, and hacking without any success I became tired. I looked at the glowing digital clock on the table. It was already eleven thirty at night. I squinted and opened my eyes yawning. I had not blinked in over five minutes. It's because when I get really into a search my eyes get glazed over, something that comes with anyone watching a screen too long. My eyelids become heavy and I lay my head down on the desk. I'll only rest for a minute, but when I woke up it was more than a minute. It had been hours, and it was morning, and I was late. 

"Shit, shit, shit." I whispered to myself. I got up, ran into the kitchen and grabbed my backpack, without giving even a sarcastic "good morning." to my father, who was sitting at the table with his paper and coffee like every other morning. I rushed out the door and to the bus stop, just in time to see my ride driving away, leaving a puff of exhaust in my face.


	3. Chapter 3 for 'A New Mouse?'

Chapter 3:

I looked around for a sign from God, which was useless, because all I saw was the empty bus stop and everyone scurrying along, getting to their destination, trying to live life unnoticed. But there was one woman who stood out in the crowd, across from me on the other side of the sidewalk. She had short black hair, and was dressed in black leather, similar to Neo's attire. 

I turned around to look at her, spotted her, blinked, and she was gone. Everything was going in slow motion in my head. I turned once more, suddenly in the same position as seconds before, spotted her, and blinked, but this time she kept walking. "Deja-vu." I said to myself, suddenly becoming dizzy. She turned her head to look at me, as I lost control of my body and fell to the ground unconscious.

My vision was blurry when I woke up. I was lying down in a bed. I looked up to see my father staring down at me. His expression was hard to read. It was neither happy that I was alive, nor angry that I was missing school. He looked different to me. This was the first time in ages I had taken a good look at him. 

He had brown thin hair, with a receding hairline. His eyes a deep blue, but with no emotion in them. He was wearing a black suit, like he does every day, but he didn't seem human to me. His stern voice startled me. "I'm glad you are awake." He said it so monotone, like a robot, not even caring about, or listening to the words coming out of his mouth. I said the first words that came to mind. "Where are we? This doesn't look like a hospital." I sounded smaller, less confident, which was surprising even to myself. 

My father put on sunglasses, which confused me, because the room wasn't even well lit, and he smiled, not even a genuine smile of content. It was an evil smirk. Suddenly a feeling came out of no where and possessed my whole body. A feeling of being tiny and helpless, small, weak, in the hands of a monster. This monster was my father. He towered over me. I curled up in a ball, and buried my head under my arms, still lying on the raised platform bed. Three men walked in the room, startling my father. Both of us looked up at the same time, and to my surprise, they all looked exactly like my father, only with slight differences. "What were you doing?" One asked him. The other two said in unison. "He doesn't know." 

My father pulled out an earpiece attached to a phone chord, and put it in his ear. "Know what?" He said curious. All three of the other men looked at eachother and smiled. One stepped forward and said in the same monotone voice that my father had. "We told you to leave it be." Some of my confidence coming back I said out loud. "Okay, so now I'm just an it, no gender?" I sat up and looked at all four of the men, who glared at me and without another word pulled me off the platform and dragged me into another room.

My heart pounded as I saw what room I was entering. It was the room from my dream! Everything was the same, table and chairs, off-white walls, video camera, and mirrored window! I skid my feed across the floor squinting my eyes and pulling back with all of my might to back out of the room. The men weren't even trying to keep me moving forward, but they did with no effort on their part. "NO!" I tried to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth. The weak feeling, the sense of hopelessness came over me again. The two men that pulled me into the room pushed me into the metal chair and backed up against the wall. My father and the last man walked in. My father sat down across from me at the table, and the other man joined the two at the wall.

I squeaked, not knowing what that would accomplish, but it was the only thing I could think of doing at the time. My father slammed a thick green folder down in front of him on the table, and began to flip through it. At first I had no idea what was in it, but then I recognized photographs of my room. Photographs of my computer even photographs of me. There were also printed documents of my search on Morpheous, and documents of my Hacker ID my incomplete homework, report card, pictures of my teachers. Then I saw pictures that I hadn't seen in a long time. My mother, pictures of me with my mother. I looked up at my father, who was already staring at me, he seemed to be reading me, like a book, trying to understand all of it's pages.

I gulped unsure of what was going to happen next. I knew that he was probably furious, because of my long past of hacking, but his expression was so nonchalant. He put his hands in front of him and opened his mouth to speak. "It looks like you have been living a second life, outside of home and school. My colleagues and I have known about this life for as long as it has been existent. We have been watching you very carefully. In this second life, you go by the alius name Cyane, and are guilty of most of our great country's laws against hacking. Unfortunately, because you are a minor, you can't spend time in jail, but we do know that you were contacted by a fellow hacker." I interrupted him. "Neo?" He smiled. "Yes, we need your help in catching him. I'm willing to erase your bad record, if you will cooperate in helping us bring down a computer criminal, at large.

The overwhelming feeling of helplessness overcame me. I sunk down into the chair. What was I ever going to do? I couldn't do anything. I'm just fifteen. "No." I said with the last bit of courage I carried. "I won't help you." When my father smirked, and put back on his sunglasses I wanted to take back everything I had said. "You are going to help us, weather you want to or not." All three of the other men came up to me and held me still, one at both of my arms, and one holding my head up. Thoughts flashed through my head of my mother and me when I was young. Just old memories, that were dead and long gone. My father stood up and walked around the table to me. "Since you are my daughter, I am going to do this with the least pain possible." He took a syringe full of clear liquid, and attached a needle. Then quickly stuck it in my neck, the next thing I knew I had fallen into a deep sleep, contaminated with nightmares.


	4. Chapter 4 for 'A New Mouse?'

Chapter 4:

I woke up startled in my room, sweat dripping from my forehead. I was still sitting at my computer desk. I guess I had fallen asleep during my search. I turned to look at my clock. It was one in the morning. My dad was probably asleep. I sighed with relief, and whispered to myself. "Thank goodness it was only a nightmare." That was the first night in seven years that my dream finally continued. I had the feeling that my dreams were finally over, for good. I wiped my forehead, and took in a deep breath, startled by my phone. "AAH!!!" I jumped, giving a short cry of surprise. Who would be calling me at this hour? 

I picked put the phone, and whispered. "Hello?" It was a man I had never heard before. "I know they had you, and your lucky you're not dead. Do you know who this is?" A chill went up my spine, because I had a good idea. "Mopheous?" I whispered. "Yes. Would you like to finally meet?" I thought for a moment. My years of searching finally paid off. He could answer my questions, and give me the truth. "Yes." He said one last thing before he hung up. "Then go to the Adam St. Bridge, right now. I will be able to meet you." I hung up the phone, and grabbed my jacket.

I tiptoed into the kitchen and out the door, glad that my dad hadn't been woken up by the phone call. As I walked down the stairs I thought about my dream. Weird, my dad was the bad guy in it, all four of my dads. I chuckled a bit, as I put on my jacket, at the idea. 

I walked around corners passing no one. I finally saw the bridge, and there was already a black car there waiting for me. I began to jog up to it, but stopped, and blinked. Everything around me was in slow motion again. The overwhelming feeling in my dream came to me. "Whoa." I said to myself. "C'mon, it was only a dream, don't let it get to you now." I began to shake, still feeling small and helpless, but continued to the car. I reached it, and the back door opened.

The lady from the very beginning of my dream, short black hair, and leather, looked up at me, and smiled, "Get in." She said softly, her nice tone calmed me a bit as I slid into the back seat, and closed the door. I looked up to see a lady with brown scruffy hair pointing a gun at me. I jumped at the barrel aimed right between my eyes. I curled up and sank into the seat. "I know this is scary, but you have to listen, and cooperate. We need you to lift up your shirt just a bit, so that we can get the bug out okay?" Her English accent was soft and sweet, but her subject of conversation was not. I stuttered, "a-a-a bug?" My little squeaky voice barely heard. 

The lady next to me took out a monstrous gun looking thing. I closed my eyes, and hesitated for a moment, but lifted up my shirt, exposing my powdery white skin. I looked down at the outline of my ribs, reminding me how little I ate. The lady put the gun over my bellybutton, and a glass dome latched on to my skin, making me jump. She plugged it into an outlet, between the two front seats, and turned it on. I watched as she moved the handle around. I could feel something in my stomach scurrying about. "C'mon, come here." She mumbled. I panted, and closed my eyes when she yelled "CLEAR!!" A blue wave of electricity covered my stomach, and pain jolted throughout my body. I bit my lip, the only thing muffling my loud scream. I looked down to see a huge yellow bug fly out of my bellybutton and into a glass container attached to the gun. She pulled the gun away, and detached the container, rolled down the window and dropped the bug to the asphalt.

I just sat there and pulled down my shirt, still in awe. The pain was gone, but I was still in shock. The lady sitting next to me turned to face me and smiled. The lady in the front seat, also smiled and said innocently, "There, that wasn't that bad was it?" I blinked in amazement. I just had a huge yellow bug sucked out of my insides, by a gun that looks like it should be in a sci-fi movie, now don't tell me that wasn't so bad! Despite my instincts I just nodded in agreement. 

We pulled up to a huge building. I knew that it had been abandoned for years, which is why Morhpeous was probably in it. Everyone got out of the car, except me. I still sat there, to scared to venture out of the vehicle. To my surprise, Neo looked into my open door and smiled. I realized that he had been the driver. "It's okay, Cyane, we won't hurt you." I coughed. He sighed. "Anymore." He put his hand out for me, I took it walked into the building with the other two ladies, he lagged behind. When inside Neo and the lady who was in the front seat took the elevator, which left me and the bug-gun lady. "Here," She pointed a finger to a large spiral staircase. "Morpheous is this way."


	5. Chapter 5 for 'A New Mouse?'

Chapter 5:

She started up the staircase, and I followed close behind her. Up and up, floors past, when finally, we were at the top. In front of me was a huge wooden door. I hid behind her, and she moved over, nudging me forward. "Go on." She said. I moved ahead, and reached for the handle, and turned back around to look at her. "Go on." She urged again. 

I pushed open the creaky door and inside was like a living room, a very old living room. There were two huge red leather chairs, and a table in the middle. On the table was a glass, full of a clear liquid. I was guessing water. There was a fireplace, with a roaring fire going on. The only sounds I could hear were the crackling flames, jumping out of the firey pit, and my heavy breathing. 

I jumped at a man's voice coming from the window. I hadn't even noticed him before. He had turned around to greet me. "Hello, Cyane. I am Morpheous, as you probably have guessed." I looked down, at the floor, and he raised my chin with his hand, making me look at his aged African American face. "Don't be shy, you are in good hands, now." I smiled, and shook his hand. "Hello Morpheous. I'm finally glad I get to meet you." He smiled. I was glad this was going along nicely. "No the honor is all mine." He replied. "Come sit, I'm guessing there is something that you wanted to know." I went over and sat down in one of the large red chairs. 

The lady that had walked me up went through another set of door in the room. I briefly glanced at her, and then looked back up at Morpheous. "But first, I have a question for you." I nodded. "Do you believe in fate, Cyane?" I thought for a moment. I had really never thought about it. I guess I did. I mean, if he was asking if I believed if everyone already has a pre-set purpose in life, I did. But if he meant if someone is controlling my life, I wasn't so sure. I just went with my instincts. "Yeah, I think I do." He nodded, and continued. "I believe, or rather, I know that fate exists. And the truth is you are a slave in the hands of who is controlling your fate." "Who is?" I inquired. "I can't tell you, because you have to see for yourself." He sat down in the chair across from me, and crossed his legs. "Why me? Why have I felt this way my whole life, why did I ever get The Matrix into my head?" He smiled. "It is fate it seems, that is controlling your life and thoughts." 

He took out a small metal case that looked like a pill box, opened it, and shook something small into his hands. He placed his hands into fists in front of his face. "This is your last chance to see what fate has in store for you." He opened his left hand and there was a blue gel pill in his palm. "Take the blue pill, and you will wake up in your room. Your life will be as if you never met me, and you can do whatever you want with it." He opened his right hand to reveal a red gel pill. "Take the red pill, and you will discover the truth, about the world, and The Matrix. After this point there is no going back on decisions." I looked from him to both of the pills back to him.

What if I really didn't want to know the truth, but what if I wish that I had known? I was not going to waste fifteen years. I reached for the red pill. Picked it up, and put it in my mouth. He pointed to the glass of water, and I picked it up, took a gulp and swallowed the pill.

"Very well. Follow me." I stood up, still feeling timid and small. He opened the door the lady had walked through earlier. Inside were the people from the car I recognized, Neo, and someone I didn't recognize.

The room was filled with machinery, phone chords, and other sorts of metal things. The lady with short brown scruffy hair took my jacket, and told me to sit in a chair, set up on a platform. Once in the chair, circular clips were put on my arms and neck. I gulped, nervous. Mopheous picked up a phone on the table, and placed it on another box. "The pill you took was part of a trace program designed to interupt your input output carrier signals." I had no idea what that meant, but I just nodded, like I understood completely. 

I turned to face a broken mirror, which was fixing itself automatically. "Whoa." I whispered to myself. I couldn't help my curiosity. It was amazing, the mirror didn't look like solid glass, but liquid. Like I could go right through it. I stuck my finger in it, and found out I was right. I immediately pulled my finger away, because the mirror was freezing. 

I looked up at Mopheous. "Have you ever had a dream that was so realistic, you thought it was real?" I nodded, thinking of the nightmare I'd had the previous night. Morpheous continued. "Then how could you tell the difference between the dream world and the real world?" I didn't answer because the mirror liquid was crawling up my arm. "Cold!" I whispered. "Cold, cold!" I closed my eyes. 

It felt like someone had just poured a bucket of Ice water over my entire body. A voice I wasn't looking at said, "It's going into replication." I wasn't really paying attention to anything anyone was saying, instead worried about my own problems. Being eaten alive by a mirror wasn't my idea of learning what The Matrix is. 

Then when the mirror had almost completely covered my entire face. A sudden blast went through my body. Like someone had turned on the heater, and electricity was freely flowing through my body. I screamed, but my scream wasn't my normal voice. It was like a signal, just sound waves in the air. It felt like my body had melted away, and all that was left was my mind, just floating there in complete nothingness. I wasn't even a mind, just electrical signals, traveling through chord after endless chord. I hit something and blanked out. 


	6. Chapter 6 for 'A New Mouse?'

Chapter 6:

     I opened my eyes to a pink world, and realized that I was in a glass tube. My vision was blurred, so I couldn't comprehend the incredible alienated detail of the monstrous machine I was hooked up to. I tried to move my legs and stand up, but chords restricted my entire body. I reached my arm out and tried to grab something, anything, to help me stand up and to my surprise the whole top of the tube was soft and elastic. I pushed my arm up, and broke the gooey mess.

       I strained to sit up, but it was hard for me to control my muscles. I finally managed to pull myself to an upright position, and tried to scream, but there was a tube shoved way down my throat. I grabbed it and threw it to the side, which made me gag. The pink goop I was sitting in flowed out of my mouth. I wanted to cry, but my eyes felt dry, and my surroundings were just a complete blur.

     Suddenly out of nowhere a machine flew out of the sky to right in front of me. It had spider like arms, and I didn't even want to know what sort of torture devices were on the end of each one. I thought it was trying to kill me, when it grabbed me by the neck. It shook me violently, but I felt it unscrewing a giant chord from the back of my head, and after it dropped me and left without another disturbance, I felt surprisingly better. Well, as good as you could feel being naked inside of a glass tube filled with pink goop.

     My vision improved, and I saw that I wasn't the only one in a pink tube. There were circular towers all around me carrying people in tubes. I realized that I was the only one awake in the tubes. When I looked down I saw that I was almost at the top of my tower, and there were thousands upon thousands of people sleeping in their tubes. 

     The chords attached to me all popped off at the same time, leaving me with little metal sockets for where each one was. I fell back, and a metal door at the end of my tube opened and sucked me through. I fell down a long metal slide. Everything was happening so fast, I didn't have time to stop and really pay attention to what was happening, or have any emotions towards it.

     I fell down out of the slide about ten feet, into a large body of green water. I thought I knew how to swim, but I guess I was wrong, because I kept sinking, and then flopping all around to try and pull myself to the surface. I felt week, like the tiny amount of strength that I had before I woke up in the tube was gone. I stopped flopping and began to sink to the bottom.

     The world around me went black, as I began to fall, deeper and deeper into the to the bottom of the mucky water. I knew in my head that it is impossible to breath under water, but my lungs didn't care. And I inhaled anyway, filling my mouth and lungs with cold sulfur tasting water. I tried to cough, but the pressure underneath the surface was too great for my little, underdeveloped lungs to push out.

     A giant claw arm grabbed my body. I had to be at least fifteen feet under by now. It pulled me out and up through an opening in the roof, like a metal claw grabs a cheap stuffed animal at the arcade. I didn't know weather that was a good thing or a bad thing, but at this point, I didn't really care. I had gone through so much already, it was useless to try and get out of the current situation.


End file.
